United Progressive Fraternity – Fall in Love With the World

I love progressive music. It’s great to hear musicians pushing the boundaries of their craft and after it all comes together the result is usually something original and completely unique that demands attention. The UNITED PROGRESSIVE FRATERNITY pays no exception to this and with a total of 15 members they manage to create a progressive fusion sound that is smooth, uplifting and powerful throughout the entire record named "Fall in Love With the World".

The group use an extensive catalogue of instruments ranging from saxophones to maracas all laced in a sea of different effects that contribute to their unique and vibrant sound. The vocals are clean and well-pitched, achieving a classic rock tone in their delivery, this mixes well with the backing to create very spacey songs that at times feel related to jazz and other easy listening genres. In places the record appears to ape works such as PINK FLOYD’S "Dark Side of the Moon" but with a bit more structure and a lot less drugs. Psychedelic-rock-jazz-fusion…or something like that.

Opening track "Overture (We Only Get One World)" acts as a perfect blurb for the rest of the album as a team of synths and outlandish wails transport you to a forgotten land, one most likely inhabited by Minotaurs and various other mythical creatures. If you want to know more about the bands ethos then listen to title track "Fall in Love With the World" which opens with a short speech exclaiming ‘whatever your beliefs about where we came from and where we are going, we all live together here on Earth, we must no longer take Earth for granted, get outside and experience nature…’. After which a collective of strings combine to create a relaxing medieval tone, which will make you feel at peace wherever you may be; it may even make you feel like you’re tripping a little.

It’s hard to really assess these guys as a band because there’s so many different aspects to their sound, it would simply take too long. They even use a sat nav voice on one of their tracks! One thing that can be said however is that this is an army of great musicians collaborating to create a really easy engaging listen that conveys a message whilst having fun in the process, an excellent effort all round.

Tracklist:

1. We Only Get One World2. Choices3. Intersection4. The Water5. Don’t Look Back (Turn Left)6. Travelling Man (The Story of Eshu)7. Fall in Love With the World8. Religion of War9. The Water (Extended Version)